Ireland: Forgive me Father, for my envelope is empty

Having missed the chance to pay her dues at the parish church Sarah Carey is wondering if there isn’t a better way to get us to cough up

I really did intend going to Mass on Easter Sunday. As it’s the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year, attendance is the minimum requirement of any Catholic interested in eternal salvation. But, between the loss of an hour and a failure to find clothes that would fit me eight weeks after childbirth, I failed to make it past the front door.

As I recovered from the ensuing self-pity, I turned my attention to a box of envelopes that had been dropped outside our door last week by a parish worker. Given my failure to appear at the Paschal ceremonies I now had to figure out how to deliver them.

Parishioners are supposed to put appropriate amounts of money into the various envelopes as a contribution towards the priests and the maintenance of the church. The envelopes are meant to be dropped in the box at Mass a number of times